Tag: democracy

Abdel Khalik would have been more fortunate had she been arrested by Israel. Then she would have been depicted by the Western media as a hero and the UN Human Rights Council would have held an emergency session to condemn Israel and call for her immediate release.

To view government as a form of deity or an inevitable friend of the poor and downtrodden is an illusion. Government is not a magic box, but a can of worms. To see it as a player, with its own interests, that should be as distrusted as any bank or corporation is the purest form of common sense, the very triumph of common sense over ideology and dogma that made America great, its people free, and real democracy possible.

The Iranians are picking up BBC operatives and throwing them in jail, which is awful, except that it's difficult to read a story about a government getting back at those pesky radio lads with their perfect British accents and preconceived notions about life, the universe and everything. Maybe it takes the Iranian regime to shut them up? We're only kidding, of course. Half kidding.

A Swedish NGO worker was prevented from boarding a flight from Egypt to Cyprus Monday. According to Cairo International Airport Authorities, Jean Eric was on...

Professor Alan Dershowitz: “Films like Crossing the Line play a critical role in the information process by spotlighting basic truths about the Arab-Israeli conflict that are often ignored. When students hear false allegations of apartheid or human rights disasters that don’t exist, they will now have the resources to respond in an informed and effective manner.”

Obama administration officials and US Congressman have suggested that the $2 billion in yearly military and economic aid to Egypt has been jeopardized by the Egyptian government's clampdown and prosecution of pro-democracy groups and individuals.

If Syrian TV News can't be trusted, who can we trust?

Egypt's prosecution of pro-democracy NGOs reflects unresolved suspicions and hostilities towards the West and democracy.

Move comes amid a recent crackdown on pro-democracy NGOs.

The Jewish Press' Knesset Insider discusses the potential for electoral reform in Israel.

In recent months a new theme has replaced the media’s past obsession with Israel’s alleged mistreatment of the Palestinians.

“This is not the good old Likud that we know,” sighed the party’s veteran princes. “Where is Begin’s liberalism?” cried the journalists. “Where is the Jabotinsky splendor?” “We must guard against the tyranny of the majority.” “Democracy is in danger!” “A murky wave threatens Israel’s democracy!” “A dark Feiglinite dictatorship.”

“The fight for democracy is taking place today within the Likud: between Ruby Rivlin, Michael Eitan and Dan Meridor on one side, and Yariv Levin, Zeev Elkin, Danny Danon and all those who are – conditionally, of course – on [Moshe] Feiglin’s endorsed list on the other.”

Most Israelis understand that the funding of Israeli organizations by foreign governments is a way to enable these governments to advance their agenda of delegitimizing Israel.

WASHINGTON - Even before the debt deal was signed Tuesday in Washington, U.S. Jewish groups and recipients of government largesse were asking the same question: Who's going to get cut?

Much has been said of the popular uprising in Egypt that led to the demise of the 30-year autocratic rule of President Hosni Mubarak. For the most part, the discourse has centered on the issue of whether or not Egypt can emerge from its uprising as the first "self-made" democracy in the Arab world. In this respect, most pundits have focused their analyses on those obstacles that might prevent Egypt's democratization, in particular, the hindering influence of the radical Islamic Muslim Brotherhood.

Even without the anticipated passage of two Iranian warships through the Suez Canal, it was a week that rattled Israelis' nerves. It began on with a stern lecture by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman that got considerable play in the Israeli media.

I'm sitting and watching President Obama's speech on the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. He is eloquent as usual, giving compelling visuals of the protestors demanding a free government amid great personal peril. He is quoting Gandhi and Martin Luther King. He has taken charge of the situation, endorsing the determination of the people of Egypt to throw out their dictator.

Anti-Semitism is the planet's oldest hatred. Yet it is a prejudice I had thought the world was moving past. Clearly, however, as demonstrated by the endless vitriol directed at Israel, it is alive and well.

Natan Sharansky has been a hero of mine ever since I learned this courageous refusenik refused to be exchanged for two spies without the Book of Psalms he had treasured for nine torturous years in Soviet prisons.

      "A democracy must fight terror with one hand tied behind its back."       So stated Aharon Barak, the former president of Israel's Supreme Court...

The failure of the noble American effort in Iraq marks the death of modern political idealism.

Regular Alerts NeededThe Jewish Press is to be commended for its editorial last week urging parents to be proactive in the care of their...

Giving Due Credit The tax credit legislation applauded by TEACH NYS in its two-page ad in last week's Jewish Press was enacted by the...

After Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer posted an anti-Israel polemic on the website of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government - styled as a "research" paper but containing virtually no original research and riddled with extraordinary scholarly lapses - the response of much of the mainstream media in America was admirable.

Serving as a makeshift tour guide for my wife and kids recently in Jerusalem, I couldn't help but contrast our frequent visits to Washington, D.C., and how much I enjoy pointing out historical markers to the children.

Return To Cafe HillelAfter sitting shiva for my brother, Dr. David Applebaum, my family and I returned twice to the very spot where he...

Now that the primary season is seriously upon us, at least one claim is common to all of the candidates. No matter the differences between them, all of the political aspirants exhibit a fundamental populism. "I want to be the people's president" is their shared mantra. Indeed, for any of them to suggest otherwise would be far more than foolish; it would be downright blasphemous.

Remembering GidoneWhen people read of my late son Gidone Busch, they have this image of an emotionally disturbed man with a hammer (which was...